Nightmare: Mark of the Vampire
by NightmareDC13
Summary: After being left the task of protecting a young girl named Rachel Roth, Nightmare must face off against the man who created him. A 400 year old master vampire named Adrian Dumont


Nightmare Volume. 2: Mark of the Vampyre

Chapter 1: Slabside

Slabside Maximum Security Prison, off the coast of New Jersey.

Two guards are transporting an incredibly dangerous inmate. He has black hair, red eyes, a long undercut, and he's wearing a muzzle that hides his beard. He looks to be in his early 30s, but in reality he is much, much older. He drops to his knees. The guards tell at him to get up. He laughs and then headbutts the one on his left and grabs the other guard and strangles him with the chain of his handcuffs before breaking his neck. He pulls the handcuff keys and the sidearm off of the dead guard and uncuffs himself. He shoots the guard that he headbutted, killing him too. He tries to pull back the hammer of the pistol.

"Ah right, these semi automatic guns. Time to get mine back." he says speaking in a British accent.

The alarms begin going off and a whole group of guards come in with riot shields hitting the shields with batons. He just smiles.

"Adrian Dumont, get back to your cell!" says one of the guards.

"What are you going to do if I don't?" he responds.

One guard runs forward. Adrian just knocks him to the floor with one hit. He picks up the guard and throws him at the group of guards, knocking them all down. With them all down, he proceeds to shoot several guards. He proceeds to pick up a shotgun, a SPAS-12 and shoot multiple guards dead. A guard bashes him with a riot shield. He laughs and snatches the shield from the guard and hits him with it, knocking him to the ground. He pulls out a handmade knife and stabs the guard in the neck and slashes his throat. He approaches an injured guard and tears off his muzzle, bearing his fangs. He grabs the guard by the head and bites his neck, draining him of blood and causing it to spray on his face. A prison nurse shoots him in the head. He shakes it off as the bullet hole closes up.

"Not very ladylike of you young lady."

He explodes into a swarm of bats and hurdles towards her. He comes back to his true form and dips her down like an elegant ballroom dancer and sinks his fangs into her throat.

"This is most enjoyable, but now I must go. Farewell to you all!" he says taking a bow as blood drips down his chin. He makes his way to the evidence locker and stabs the officer guarding it 3 times. He goes through various hangers trying to find what belonged to him.

"Where the bloody hell is it?" he says in frustration.

Right after he spoke, he found it. His trenchcoat, his white shirt with the black tie, the vest and his dress pants with the black shoes and finally, his top hat. He had had it since 1865 and wasn't planning on letting it go when it was still in such fine, prestigious condition. He looked behind him and saw his black and silver revolver that he had acquired after an expedition in the American West and a cane sword he had acquired in London in 1868 after a month long trip there. As soon as he exits, he finds that he is surrounded by prison guards. He laughs as he raises his hands, his eyes begin to glow. Suddenly, rats begin to scurry out everywhere, frightening the guards. He pulls the sword out of his cane and kills any guard standing in his way. He walks out of the prison and is shot in the chest by a rifleman. He looks up at the rifleman in disappointment and shoots him in the head, causing him to fall out of the tower. Overlooking a cliff, he sees a cargo ship passing below and makes his leap. His next task was to get to Gotham city and find a girl being called "Raven" and summon her father.

Chapter 2: The Trial of Black Mask

At Gotham City Courthouse, the jury is seated for the trial of Roman Sionis. The Black Mask.

"While it is true that Sionis industries was indeed involved with shady business dealings, who are we to say that my client was directly involved?"

"Let's see what my witness has to say. I call to the stand Oswald Cobblepot."

Oswald Cobblepot walks up to the stand wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs.

"'Ello Roman! It's been a while 'asn't it?" he laughs.

"Just say what you're going to say Oswald."

"I seen plenty of Mr. Sionis's shady business dealings. Hell I was part of 'em! Now I've already been sentenced, so there's no point in hiding my own business. I would sell him weapons for his men and in return, he would sell drugs to me to deal at the Iceberg lounge." Cobblepot says.

"Yes Mr. Cobblepot, but what kind of evidence do you have?" Cobblepot laughs.

"I 'ave security cameras inside my office. I record all of the deals I involve myself in. Including Mr. Sionis!"

"Alright, let's see the evidence." says the judge.

An image is projected on a screen in the courthouse showing Roman Sionis wearing his signature white suit and Black Skull mask sitting across the table from Cobblepot.

"Alright all I need is a few M4 Carbines, you know, military grade. Fully automatic."

"You know that'll set you back a few thousand dollars eh Roman?"

"Oh yes, but what if we….. cut a deal? I know you're trying to open up a club. Do you know what clubbers like Oswald? Drugs! LSD, Cocaine, Ecstasy. You name it, I'll get it for ya. Hand it out to your key staff members, they sell it and boom! You'll be swimming in revenue. And with those guns, I can protect my shipments and get you even more!""

"You're a smart man Roman. I think I'll cut down the prices for you, under one condition, you keep the terms you mentioned."

The tape ends."You see, that could be anybody. Besides, the tape is from 2003. Even if that was me, do you really think that my business practices in 2003 would be the same as my business practices 16 years later?" says Roman.

"Alright, thanks for your statements. Be ready with your closing statements at a later date. Case dismissed." says the judge.

The district attorney, Nick Eckhart walks towards his car. As he reaches for his keys, he sees a reflection in his window of a man wearing tactical gear and a half black, half orange mask with no eye hole on the black side… Deathstroke. Nick reaches for his gun, only to be disarmed and kicked back. Deathstroke draws his sword and dashes towards Nick and stabs him in the chest. Nick falls to his knees, bleeding out. Deathstroke wipes the blood off of his sword and sheaths it. Nick looks up at Deathstroke, who draws his sidearm and shoots Nick in the head, finishing his contract.

Jason Todd walks into his apartment with carryout. He sits down in front of his tv while sloppily slurping noodles. Just then a report came on that caught his attention.

"Good evening Gotham. No less than an hour ago, Gotham District Attorney Nick Eckhart was killed in an assassination in the parking garage for the Gotham City Courthouse. Eckhart was working on the trial of drug kingpin Roman Sionis, better known by Gotham citizens as Black Mask. We'll have more on this story as it develops."

Jason turns off the TV and walks into his closet, pulling out a chest. He opens it up, revealing his suit. Black cargo pants with combat boots, a black kevlar vest with a red bat spray painted on, a black leather jacket with a hood, and a red tactical helmet with two M9 pistols and an M9 bayonet knife. It had been a while since Jason had dawned his Red Hood persona to kill anybody that was a major player in Gotham's underground society, but he knew that Black Mask was planning something big. It was time to put an end to his 16 year reign of terror.

Chapter 3: Heir to the clown

After a terrifying dream Lonnie had with the Joker, he wakes up in a completely different place. He wasn't in a hospital, he was in Amusement Mile. He was no longer wearing a hospital gown. Instead, he was wearing a green and purple hoodie with the Joker's logo on the back. He felt a mask on his face, he takes it off and looks at it. It was his plain white mask, but had black covering the area around the eye holes and a red smile running across the face, cheek to cheek. A speaker near him produces feedback. Then a tv turns on showing the Joker.

"You know, if it weren't for your dead friend, I don't know where I would be. Maybe I'd still be at the asylum. Man, I have to admit that I feel at home there. But sometimes you just need a little change of scenery. Anyways, it's storytime Lonnie! Once upon a time, there was a man named Jack. Jack had a wife named Jeannie. Jack was well, haha, jack shit at being a comedian, so everybody booed him. Jack just wanted to make people smile and make money for his wife and a little baby boy on the way. In order to make money, he falls in with the wrong people. But one fateful night, his wife dies in a car accident, and apparently I lost my little boy too. But they were lying to me! They only lied to me because I was unfit to be a father with my position in life!" Joker says.

"What are you getting at?" replies Lonnie

"What I'm getting at is that you are my long lost son! You see, when I escaped Arkham I had planned to blow up the hospital because I thought that would've been funny as hell! But I got curious and I looked through the files. I found one that Said Lonnie Napier, adopted by Roxanne and Mike Machin. That's you!"

"I… I don't believe it."

"Oh but you should my little Joker!"

"I'm not like you, I'm about change after chaos. Not murder and destruction. I fight for change, not for violence. We need to give it back and give it to the people, not just take from both sides."

The Joker laughs.

"Oh, but just you wait. Soon you won't be Anarky anymore, You'll be my our own little Joker jr! Isn't that right Harley?"

"Oh yes Mr. J, but I'd say he's hardly a child anymore! Look at him all grown up." says Harley Quinn.

"Oh yeah, this may take some work. We've got people to kill and shit to blow up. We'll see you soon my boy." he laughs as the tv turns off.

Lonnie pulls out his phone to call his mother.

"Lonnie thank god! Where are you?" she asks frantically.

"I think I'm in amusement mile. Look, we need to talk when I get back."

"Okay, but I want to see you as soon as possible okay?"

"Alright mom, goodbye."

"Bye sweetie, be safe!"

As he hangs up his phone, he hears the ticking of a clock. It begins to get louder and louder. He covers his ears and tries to scream, but he can't even hear himself over the immense sound of clocks ticking away. He begins to hear a voice in his head.

"Oh good! Good good good good good! There is no time to waste! He… he will be the one! The big bad bat wouldn't help! But he is the one! He is the one that will help me protect Alice! Bring him to me White Rabbit! We need him and we need him now!"

Lonnie had fallen victim to the Mad Hatter.

Chapter 4: Venom

Ever since the Scarecrow had been defeated, the Batman family had been going after Bane. A big hulking brute of a man, he stood at 6'8 and is heavily enhanced by a super steroid called venom which was supplied via tubes connected to a delivery pack on the his back. He ran two operations in Gotham, the shipment of venom in Gotham and making sure nobody else got their hands on it and the handling and training of mercenaries while being one himself. Tonight everybody was there, except Jason. Lately, several producers of venom had dropped off shipments in several places in the city. This was the reason Tim Drake (Aka Red Robin) was out of town during Blackout's seige. He was too busy tagging shipments out of Blüdhaven. With these shipments tagged, it would be easier to locate and destroy them. Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Taylor Hayes, Tim Drake, Damien Wayne, and Bruce Wayne all met on a rooftop as their alter egos, Nightwing, Batgirl, Nightmare, Red Robin, Robin, and Batman respectively.

"The beacons are all activated. Good work Tim. Now all I need you to do is go out there and destroy the venom shipments. It's simple. We've all faced Bane's elite mercenaries before." says Bruce.

"Yeah. Well what about Bane himself?" says Dick.

"With his venom supplies gone, he's likely to come out of hiding. We'll take him on then."

They l seperate to go find venom Shipments. Dick goes to a warehouse by Dixon docks. He enters through a skylight and observes the venom being brought to the front of the warehouse to be loaded onto the truck.

"So how many trucks do we have? Just the one?" says one of the guards.

"Yeah, and it's just a damn pick up truck. We should've gotten a big rig. I mean if Batman catches wind of this operation, he could use the batmobile to take care of that no problem."

"Sure, but what about the Death's Head?"

"Death's head?"

"Yeah, Nightmare's car. It's an armored El Camino with a battering ram at the front and machine guns coming out of the hood."

"Damn! So he will actually kill you?"

"That's what he's known for."

Dick throws a smoke bomb filling the room with smoke. The mercenaries start coughing and turn on their laser sights. He grabs one of the mercenaries and chokes him out with one of his batons and gently lays him on the floor. He pulls another's legs out from under him and hits him in the head, knocking him unconscious. He throws a bird shaped shuriken he calls a wing ding into a wall. The remaining 3 operatives all fire at the wall. The smoke clears and they all look around. Dick jumps through a window and kicks a mercenary to the ground, he hits the second one in the jaw with a baton and knocks his legs out from under him, and hits the third one in the head with both of the batons and takes him down with a knee. The first one tries to get back up but he threw a baton at his head, knocking him out.

"Bruce, Dixon is cleared. I'm going to destroy the venom shipment, what's your status?"

"I'm headed to Chinatown with Robin, we'll be there shortly. Be ready for if the truck comes to ambush them."

Bruce and Damien observe mercenaries tightly guarding a stack of venom crates.

"Damien, I'll draw their fire and then you start silently taking them down." says Bruce.

Damien pauses for a minute.

"Sounds easy enough. Sure you can keep up?"

Bruce smirks "The really question is, can you?".

Damien climbs through an air duct and drops through the ceiling, covering behind a wall. Bruce throws batarangs at the mercenaries, with several sticking into some of the mercenary's shoulders and hands. Damien jumps through a window, kicking one into a fountain. Bruce leaps down pouncing on a mercenary and taking him out. A mercenary charged with a shield, Bruce snatches the shield and bashes the mercenary with it. A mercenary behind Bruce attempts to fire at him but is tackled through a drywall by Damien.

"That's these guys taken care of." says Damien.

"Good work Robin, time to check up on Barbara, Tim and Taylor." says Bruce.

He activates the communicator in his cowl.

"Nightmare, where are you?" he asks

"We're just about to put on a little show for this last group. According to intel, this is where it's all brought into." says Taylor.

Taylor, Barbara, and Tim all arrive at an abandoned storehouse with mercenaries outside. The all huddle together.

"I'll cause a distraction while you guys take them out from behind. The sound of gunfire will be too loud for them to be able to hear your incoming attack." says Nightmare

"Sounds good. You think they'll have any tricks up their sleeves?" says Tim.

"Perhaps, but it won't be anything we can't handle."

Barbara and Tim grapple up to the roof while Taylor turns around the corner.

Taylor spots two mercenaries guarding the door to the storehouse. He transforms into a form of bats and hurdles towards them. He transforms back into his true form and pulls out two knives and stabs them both in the chest, they both fall to their knees and he executes them with a stab to the throat for one of them and a stab in the back of the neck to the other. He wipes the blades and sheaths them. He opens the door to see 8 mercenaries holding Barbara and Tim hostage with their leader in front of them. He was wearing military combat armor he had scars on his face a beard, he was bald and appeared to be in his mid 40s. His name was Bird, Bane's head lieutenant.

"You know, where I'm from there is a phrase for people like you. Hay días tontos y tontos todos los días." He speaks in a hispanic accent."

"Bird… You let them go and face me like a man!"

"How about some other day, yes? I have an important job to do, Bane would not be pleased if I were not to deliver his venom to him. Adios amigo! And if he tries anything, kill his friends." Bird says as he walks away with 2 other mercenaries and the venom in tow. Tayloriactivates a device discreetly, causing the lights to explode. The mercenaries start to panic and begin firing at Taylor. Taylor pulls out two SR 1911 pistols and returns fire, killing one. He sprints forwards and stabs one in the chin. Tim and Barbara stand up and take down their opposers. Just then, more mercenaries show up. Tim, Barbara, and Taylor all grapple up to safety.

"Taylor, you're the one with the car. Go after Bird. Me and Barbara will take these guys down."

Taylor wastes little time going for his car, briefly admiring all the hard work that had gone into such a deadly work of art. The Death's Head. He starts the engine and it roars to life like a demon emerging from the fiery depths of Hell. He slams on the gas in pursuit of where he had seen Bird. Soon, he catches up to the pickup truck with all the venom in the back. The mercenary in the back of the truck panics in trying to load his assault rifle. He begins to fire at Taylor. Machine guns raise up from the hood of Taylor's car. Taylor returns fire with the machine guns, killing the mercenary in the back. Taylor slams on the brakes and turns around to ambush them from the front. As he turns around the corner again, he catches a glimpse of the shocked look on Bird's face.

"Bye bye Bird!" he says, giving Bird the middle finger. He fires the machine guns which causes the truck to explode, killing Bird in the process.

At the original GCPD precinct, which had been abandoned for some time, a mercenary frantically bursts through the door and runs towards Bane.

"What is wrong? Did Batman get to the venom?" says Bane

"Yes, all of it. That's not even the worst part!"

"What could be worse than all of my precious jugos being destroyed?"

"It's Bird… Nightmare killed Bird."

"Mierda! I'll kill the bastard myself!"

"Shouldn't we focus on the Batman?"

Bane looks at the mercenary. He crams his thumbs into his eyes and pulls his head apart in incredibly gruesome fashion. All the other mercenary's watch in horror.

"Does anybody else have a problem with authority?" he asks.

All the mercenaries disperse.

Dick is outside of the precinct and radios Bruce.

"Bruce, I followed some scared mercenaries. Apparently Taylor murdered Bird. They're at the old GCPD precinct.

Bane enters a room and puts Bird's picture on a stand and lights candles next to the picture.

"I…. I failed you Bird. For years we were stuck in that hellhole Pena Duro together. Mi amigo, y mi mentor. My friend and mentor. I will never forget you, compadre. I will make sure that the bastard Nightmare pays. But first I must once again destroy the bat." he says, mourning his friend.

Bruce enters the room as Batman.

"You wanted me, here I am." he says

Bame wipes his nose "Can't a man mourn? I have just lost the man that replaced my father."

Bane has a flashback of himself, a tiny toddler in Pena Duro. A young Bird approaches him and hands him a teddy bear.

"Este es Osito. Peña Duro es un lugar aterrador y hay muchos monstruos aquí, pero él te mantendrá a salvo. Lo prometo." he says.

Bane snaps back to reality.

"I'm sorry about Bird, but it's over. You need to turn yourself in."

"No… Bird would want me to keep going. He would want me to thrive. He did want me to thrive. Now he's dead. And your people killed him!" Bane let's out a primal scream and charges towards Batman, sending him through a wall. Bane turns up a dial on his wrist gauntlet, increasing the flow of venom into his bloodstream. He grabs Bruce by the cape and throws him into a parked car. Bruce braces himself as Bane charges towards him. He slides under Bane's legs and attaches an explosive to the venom delivery system on his back. He detonates it, destroying all the venom being supplied to him. Bane charges out of the smoke and is punched in the jaw by Bruce. He blows it off, grabs Bruce and slams him into the ground and punches Bruce repeatedly until the cowl breaks. Bruce charges up the electric component on his gauntlet and shocks Bane. He throws a concussion grenade and begins his beatdown on Bane. He kicks Bane in the chin, and causes him to collapse to his knees. Bruce walks back and then runs towards Bane with a kick, knocking the Brute unconscious. Bruce collapses in exhaustion and calls Commissioner Gordon.

"Gordon… it's done. Bane and his whole operation are at the old GCPD precinct. You should hurry though. He won't stay down for long."

"God… I never thought I'd see the day. You amaze me Batman. You've got to do all you can to keep guys like Bane off the streets and that's what you did. I'll send in units to go pick up Bane. We've already picked up most of his mercenaries. And I don't think that he'll be getting out any time soon. I heard his lieutenant got taken out of the game permanently."

"Yeah, I never thought I'd see a man like Bane so emotionally vulnerable. He was slightly unpredictable."

"Alright, well you look out for yourself out there."

"Always, and you too Jim."

Chapter 5: Origins

Nightmare walked through the door at about 3 in the morning. A month ago, his mentor in the dark arts, John Constantine, left him a foster child. A 14 year old Rachel Roth. She had dark violet hair that had nearly faded to black, with pale skin and violet eyes. She always wore dark clothes and commonly a black and white striped shirt and hoodie. As Taylor walks in, he saw Rachel asleep on the couch while the tv was on. He checks his phone after it vibrates in his pocket. There was a text from his girlfriend Autumn, who was also a vigilante named the Black Swan.

"_Hey babe, I'm just barely getting done here. You should've seen it! I scared the shit out of this guy and he jumped off a balcony. His shin bone was sticking out of his leg! I'm really close to getting my hands on Two-Face. Anyways, I'll be home in a little bit!"_

Rachel sits up. "Where do you at night?" she asks.

Taylor is now wearing a brown bomber jacket and ripped jeans with his hair neatly tied into a bun.

"Sometimes I like going for a run late."

"I know, but you're gone for hours. Do you go out to drink?"

"Sometimes I do. I mean, I'm a college student. Sometimes I like to party."

"It should be different though. You have me."

Taylor strokes his face. She had made a fair point.

"Yeah, you make a point."

"I can still manage on my own but…"

"Yeah, what is it?"

"I get lonely. I never really had any friends when I went to school. And now that it's online, I have no chance."

Autumn walks through the door.

"What's going on?"

"Rachel was just telling me she gets lonely here sometimes."

Autumn smiles, subtly at first, but then big enough to make her two lip piercings glow even brighter. She takes down her hood quickly and shakes her head, tossing her brown and green dreadlocks back and forth and revealing her pointed ears.

"I got an idea! We both have off, right Taylor?" she asks.

"Yeah, what were you thinking?"

"I think we should all go out to get breakfast tomorrow!"

"Not a bad idea. You've been here a month and we hardly know each other. So let's get some sleep and we'll all get up, get dressed and go to Pauli's Diner."

Slaughter Swamp, 1 hour prior.

Adrian Dumont is trudging through the mud in the swamp on his way to become the most powerful vampire to ever walk the earth. He had stopped to feed on some deer a short while earlier. He looked into the water and saw the reflection of what looked like a giant, hulking man. He turns around and is tossed aside by the muscular man. He stood at about 6'7. He wore a white shirt with a long brown trench coat and black jeans. His skin was a grayish white and his hair was just a pure white, it was long and stringy. He picked up Adrian and started at him dead in the eye.

"Solomon Grundy born on a Monday!" he says.

"Christened on Tuesday? Married on Wednesday?"

Grundy puts him down.

"You're Cyrus Gold, aren't you?"

"I am Grundy!"

"Yes! And I am Adrian Dumont." he bows elegantly.

"You Grundy's friend?"

"Yes! Yes I am your friend Grundy."

"You know Grundy?"

"Not Exactly, but I'm sure we can get to know each other. Come along now, I have an important job for you."

They both walk towards Gotham.

Pauli's Diner, 9 hours later.

"I got to tell you, I haven't had food this good in a very long time." says Rachel.

"Yeah, Pauli's has always been a favorite of mine. Best breakfast out there." says Taylor.

"So why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" says Autumn.

"I'm from Detroit. My mom was a CNA, a really religious type. She always had crossed hanging on my door and in my room. Said they would protect me from those that wanted to take advantage of me. She never said who they were."

"Why do you think John left you with us?" asks Taylor.

"I don't really know. His ex girlfriend, Zatanna I think her name was, said that my father was trying to use the Raven to break through to the other side. But he needed assistance from other hellish forces to do it. He said you had the means to protect me from them."

"Your father is Trigon, you're the Raven, and Adrian Dumont is the other hellish force."

"Who's Adrian Dumont?" Rachel inquires.

"He was a mentor of sorts. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing."

"So he's a deceitful son of a bitch?" asks Autumn.

"Oh yeah."

Gotham City, 5 years ago.

Adrian Dumont hands a 14 year old Taylor a dagger to cut open a 12 year old girl's throat. He presses it against her neck.

John Constantine bursts into the crypt. "Taylor stop! Doing this will only make you his puppet!"

Adrian Dumont cocks his head and grins ear to ear, baring his awful fangs.

"Mr. Constantine doesn't know what he's talking about. You were always like a son to me Taylor. Now do as I say."

John holds up a cross.

"Sanguinis animula vilis! in virtute Dei, vos prohibere et iubes me percuti per omnipotentem manum Dei domine!" John shouts.

Adrian Dumont hisses and covers his face. John pulls out a vial of holy water and splashes it on the vampire's face severely burning him and causing him to howl out in pain. He attempts to lunge at John. John pulls out a bottled substance and sprays it in Adrian's eyes causing them to burn, garlic spray. Taylor looks at the dagger in his hand and stabs adrian in the back with it. John grabs Adrian and throws him into a coffin and secures it placing a crucifix on top of it.

"What are you going to do with him?" asks Taylor.

"Best option would be just to kill him, but I think the people at Slabside could develop a cure. We could possibly make money off of it lad!"

"Is that all? Just money."

John shrugs "And… and he would be away from people. That's really all though mate. The bloody bastard won't be able to harm anybody anymore."

Chapter 6: War Zone

It was that time again, Nightfall. Every vigilante in the city would be doing their jobs, fighting crime by the book. Jason was different though. He was known by police and criminals alike as the Red Hood. The difference between him and Batman was that Batman refused to kill, whereas Jason wasn't afraid to kill anybody. He geared up and made sure that he had sufficient ammunition for that night he had a holster on each thigh, each one with an M9 pistol. He strapped on his armor and put on his helmet. He climbed out of his window and made his way to crime alley. He knew he probably couldn't get the drop on Black mask quite yet, but he needed to start somewhere. With a name like crime alley, there had to be crime afoot. He heard a woman screaming he turned the corner to see her being mugged by 3 men.

"Hey assholes, why don't you pick on someone your own size." says Jason.

The men seem unafraid as they let go and all pull out switchblades and butterfly knives. Jason pulls out his bayonet knife. The first thug charges. Jason pulls his arm up and stabs him in the armpit, then bends him forwards and stabs him in the back of the head. The other thugs charge him. Jason lunges forwards and stabs one of the thugs in the chest and points the knife upside down and stabs the last thug in the eye. This was just last of the nightly routine for Jason and he often wished for more than killing street level thugs, which he had grown bored of. As the blood drips from his knife, he pulls out his grapnel launcher and grappled to a rooftop. He remembered that even though Black Mask was currently being held in trial, his drugs were still being shipped everywhere, this would be his chance to make a difference in permanently shutting down Black Mask's operation for good. He would need help. He makes his way to the narrows, the poor part of Gotham, the part that suffered the most from the city's corruption, and the most from Black Mask's drugs. He enters an abandoned house.

"Ed, deactivate defense protocols. It's me, Jason."

A hidden bookcase opens up. A man is sitting at a computer surrounded by guns. He wears a green coat, black fingerless gloves, a white dress shirt with a black tie and black dress pants with a green bowler hat with a black question mark on the front.

His name was Edward Nygma, better known as the Riddler.

Gotham City, a few months ago.

Jason opens the door to his apartment to see the Riddler standing in his living room. He draws his gun.

"What the hell are you doing here Nygma?"

"I want to turn my life around. I pissed off Black Mask, and in return I got a head injury. Little does he know that the head injury cured me."

"Sounds like a personal problem."

"I know you're going after him and I want in."

"What good would you have to me? Leaving riddles?"

"I'm a computer genius. I have eyes all over the city."

Flashback ends

"How's your night been Ed?" asks Jason.

"So far uneventful. I picked up some Big Belly Burger, still warm. I figured you'd kill some people and then come straight here. I have to say, I enjoy watching you kill these cretins with such prima instinct."

"Just comes naturally. Thanks for the food by the way I'm starving."

"Oh yeah, don't mention it. Anything else you need?"

"Intel, two M9 suppressors, and a military grade fully automatic M4 Carbine."

"I've seen a drug deals go on down the street from here. They keep that area secure because that's where they keep the product."

Jason finished eating and gears up again.

Before too long he shows up at the drug deal. A thug of Black Mask's gets shot in the head by Jason's M4 Carbine. The rest of Black Mask's men stand guard with their guns drawn. A smoke grenade rolls towards them, smoke fills the area. Silenced gunshots are heard, and bodies start falling to the ground. The last thug turns around and is met face to face with Red Hood.

"I hope you're proud of your life choices." says Jason before shooting the thug 5 times in the chest with the M9.

Chapter 7: Cheshire cat

Lonnie awakens at the end of a tea party table tied to a chair. In front of him is a man wearing a green trench coat with a white dress shirt, a black vest, black pants, and a top hat with a card in it that said 10/4. This man was Jervis Tetch, the Mad Hatter. He was once a highly sought after hypnotist until the death of his girlfriend Alice, which had driven him to the point of insanity. He had vowed to always protect Alice even after her death, usually kidnapping young blonde women and taking them as his "Alice".

"Where the hell am I?" says Lonnie struggling.

"You are exactly where you need to be! Exactly where I need you to be!" Mad Hatter replies.

"What do you want from me?"

"I need you and the Cheshire cat to protect Alice!"

Lonnie looks over to see a woman wearing a black catsuit with a cowl that had cat ears and red goggles with the back cut out to allow hair to flow out the back. This was Selina Kyle but she was better known as Catwoman. She started out her career as a petty cat burglar, but through help from Batman, she was put on a straight and narrow path. She eventually became a vigilante and usually stole intel for Batman. She comes to consciousness.

"I would really like to casually go through my routine without being attacked by one of my many enemies. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen very soon." She says.

"I am not your enemy! I need you Cheshire!"

"I am not Cheshire. If you want Cheshire, you should probably talk to Deathstroke, wherever he is."

"Cheshire is Cheshire yes. But you are the Cheshire cat!"

"Oh god, here we go again."

Mad Hatter pulls out a pocket watch and swings it back and forth. The watch flips open, revealing a spiral pinwheel. It begins spinning and Lonnie and Selina lose consciousness.

When they wake up, they are in what appeared to be a twisted version of Gotham. Buildings were floating and falling apart. All they could hear was the sound of clocks ticking. They heard Mad Hatter's voice.

"Now go and find Alice, make sure that she is safe."

"You can forget about it Hatter. We're walking out of here."

"No this simply will not do! She has to be found and she has to be safe!"

Hypnotized thugs wearing rabbit masks walk towards them with knives and baseball bats.

"If you will not do as I ask, I am afraid I have no choice."

They black out again. This time they awaken carrying a girl with a bag over her head wearing a blue dress.

"Anarky, what's going on?" asks Selina.

"I think we're kidnapping her." he replies.

"Well put her down!"

"I can't. His hypnosis is too strong."

Selena spots a shadow on a rooftop.

"Anarky…. You need to try at least. You aren't going to like what's next."

The shadow drops down… Batman.

"First an attempted terrorist attack and now kidnapping. What's next for you Anarky?"

Selina attacks him, he knocks her to the ground.

"What part do you have in this Selina?"

She gets back up and pulls out a barbed whip and wildly swings it at Bruce.

"I can't help it. It's Tetch, he hypnotized us!"

Bruce throws a sonic batarang into the ground and activates it. Both Selina and Lonnie cover their ears. Lonnie puts down the unconcious girl. They had been broken of their hypnosis.

"Where's Tetch?" asks Bruce.

"Batman! How dare you ruin my reunion! It was supposed to be the most glorious tea party! And you ruined it!" Mad Hatter emerges from the shadows with a group of the white rabbit thugs. They run towards Lonnie, Selina and Bruce. They all prepare for a fight. Bruce attacks with brutal force, while Selina attacks with quick precision and Lonnie attacks fluidly with a shock baton. All the thugs get knocked out and Bruce. Approaches Mad Hatter, picking him up by the collar. Knowing he was next, Lonnie quietly exits.

All of a sudden, his phone begins vibrating. He answers it.

"You know, after meeting your new folks I have to say they kind of disgust me. I mean they're genuinely good people but it's all just a joke with no punchline!" it was the Joker again.

"You sick son of a bitch! If you lay one finger on them I swear to god!" Lonnie responds in anger.

"I'm afraid it's already too late! Mommy is probably going to stitches and daddy is missing a few teeth. But hey, don't worry too much! This will give me the chance to be the father that I was never able to be!"

Lonnie begins running home. He had to do everything in his power to stop Joker.

Chapter 8: In the shadow of the valley of death

Grundy walks into an abandoned building with a deer carcass. Night had once again fallen, which meant that Adrian Dumont could go out and feed again. But he still had one more person in order to kidnap the Raven.

"Grundy my good friend! I need you to help me do something!" he says.

"You need Grundy's help?"

"Yes! Just down the road is Arkham Asylum, there is someone that despises young mister Hayes, who is our enemy too."

"How does Grundy help?"

"Grundy, you are an unstoppable juggernaut! With you by my side, nobody can stop us!"

Inside one of the cells is a man with dark circles around his eyes wearing a straight jacket with long black hair. He repeatedly hits his head against the padded cell. He hears guards screaming as they are killed. His eyes go wide and he begins grinning and giggling like a child. He quickly turns around.

"The devil delivereth your souls unto hell! The devil delivereth!"

This man was Jacob Lowry. 5 years ago, he was a sophomore student at Gotham high. He excelled in the sciences particularly in biology and chemistry. He grew up with abusive parents and was frequently bullied. After falling into a heroin addiction at age 13, he discovered a satanic cult. It was through their influence that he poisoned his mother and stabbed his father 66 times. He disposed of the bodies and murdered 5 students at Gotham high. This stretch was known as the bloody year.

Gotham High, 5 years ago.

Jacob Lowry, a 15 year old student was dragging a cheerleader that had been bound and gagged wearing nothing but underwear. to a satanic ritual site that he had constructed in a forest close to the school's football field. She was screaming in terror while tossing around. Jacob was wearing a brown and black leather hooded cloak with a plague doctor mask. He set her down on an alter and begun chanting.

"Satan, I deliver this whorish woman to you as a gift. I hope you will accept it and grant me eternal blood!" he raises his dagger a knife is thrown and sticks into his shoulder. He grunts and pulls the knife put. He draws a black powder revolver pistol. Disguised as his alter ego Nightmare, 15 year old Taylor drops from the trees and is shot by Lowry, knocking him on his back. The cheerleader screams and starts crying as he removes his mask. And approaches the cheerleader.

"Hello Mallory! You'll be in safe hands soon enough."

She cries even harder. Taylor tackles Jacob and punches him in the face repeatedly. Jacob stabs Taylor in the chest with the dagger. Taylor gets up and pulls the dagger out. Jacob shoots Taylor again. Taylor puts his hands around Jacob's throat and chokes him. He let's go and puts the dagger to Jacob's throat. Jacob laughs.

"I've been a humble servant. Release me, and as a demon, I will come back and tear you limb from limb."

Taylor stops and then delivers a knee strike to Jacob's head, knocking him unconscious. For 5 years, Jacob Lowry would be locked away in Arkham Asylum.

"You, you're a servant just like me!" Jacob says to Adrian.

Adrian kicks his teeth "Yes, well in a way. I have direct lineage from Adam. I'm a son of Cain."

Jacob laughs

"Do… do you have my things?"

"I do, I do indeed. Grundy!"

Solomon Grundy hands him a clear bag with his brown and black leather cloak and metal plague doctor mask.

They exit the Asylum with alarms blaring in the background.

"You've gotten me out of that wretched place, and you haven't even told me your names." says Jacob.

"Oh yes! My name is Adrian Dumont and this is Solomon Grundy."

"What is it you broke me out for?"

"You're a man of many questions Monsieur Lowry. We need to plunge the world into darkness so that the creatures of the night can thrive! In order to do that, we need to find the daughter of a demon named Trigon they call her the Raven."

"Oh yes. I have read about this Trigon! The enslaved of two thousand realms! He enslaved his first realm at age eight! Eight!"

"Such a vile beast, now I have some intel about where she is. She's being protected by someone who was supposed to be my protegé and his girlfriend. You and Grundy can take him on while I kill his girlfriend and take the Raven, but don't kill him yet. I know that you know the ritual so that we can complete it once we have her. Once the ritual is complete, I will kill my former protegé and make him suffer!"

Jacob puts on his cloak nods in excitement.

"The only problem is, I don't know where he lives." says Adrian.

Chapter 9: Deadshot

Chief Judge Eric Anderson walks outside of his house to tend to his flower garden. It was a lovely spring afternoon and you could smell it in the air. Judge Anderson lived in a nice upper class neighborhood away from the pollution. What nobody seemed to realize is that with how open it was for a shooting. But he didn't have to worry, as he was in his backyard which was covered by a white fence. However he was still being watched closely, and by an expert marksman.

Floyd Lawton was an expert marksman from a young age. He joined the military to escape the foster system the second he turned 18. It was through his expert marksmanship that he earned the call sign "Deadshot" from his superiors. In all his time completing hits for various crime families, he had never been caught. Today, he wears a black and grey combat vest over a red turtleneck sweater with black cargo pants and black combat boots while wearing a black metal helmet with a red marksman sight over his eye. He observed the Judge through this marksman sight. He couldn't see him, but knew approximately where he was. He just had to find something to ricochet the bullet off of. Before too long, he noticed a flagpole. Deadshot held his breath and took the shot. He saw the bullet impact on the flagpole and saw blood splatter on the white picket fence. He had completed the hit and it was only a matter of time before his client was released.

Later that night Bruce was watching the TV as if he was waiting for something.

"Master Bruce, I would've thought that you would've been gone with Damien for the night." said Alfred.

"I feel like there's something I need to wait for. Remember, Scarecrow, Joker and Harley Quinn are still on the loose." said Bruce.

"Very well sir, may I get you anything while you're…. Waiting?"

"Just run diagnostics on the Batmobile."

"Yes sir."

Bruce continues watching the tv when a special report comes on. Saying that Chief Judge Eric Anderson was assassinated, which may cause Roman Sionis to be released on a technicality.

Bruce heads down to the Batcave to suit up.

"Everything is running smoothly sir. Let's hope tonight is the night we finally keep Black Mask behind bars once and for all."

"I wouldn't count on it just yet. We need to focus on who killed Chief Judge Anderson. We can't be sure that Black Mask hired the assassin."

"Would like like a sandwich before you leave sir?"

"Oh, uh, no thanks. I have cash on me I'll just stop on the way back."

"In the Batmobile sir?"

"Nothing I haven't done before, Alfred."

"Yes, but perhaps you should consider getting yourself a bat credit card?" Alfred smiles.

Bruce looks at Alfred and smirks. "I think I'll just stick with the cash."

Bruce suits up in the batsuit and enters the batmobile.

Bruce arrives at Judge Anderson's house and climbs on the roof waiting for Harvey Bullock to notice him. Harvey notices him and tells the investigators to take a break.

"What do we have?" asks Bruce.

"Bullet trajectory is all weird. It looks like it was fired from the flagpole, but there's a bullet hole in there too."

"It was ricocheted off of the flagpole. There's only one person I know that's capable of pulling off a kill like that, but I'm going to have to look at the bullet to make sure."

Bruce pulls the bullet out of the fence.

"The bullet was a custom made FMJ the trajectory came from an office building a few blocks away." Bruce goes to the office building to investigate further. He finds a shell casing with a name on it, Deadshot.

"Alfred, run facial recognition for Floyd Lawton." says Bruce over the comlink.

"So Deadshot has come back to assassinate a public servant. Who do you think hired him?"

"My guess is Black Mask, but we can't rule out anybody else. That he's put away."

Meanwhile, Jason stands over a group of dead Black Mask thugs. He gets a call from Riddler.

"What is it Nygma?" he says.

"Chief Judge Eric Anderson was just killed. Do you know what that means?"

"Tell me. I'm dying to hear it."

"Roman Sionis has been released on a technicality. I wouldn't worry about the assassin though, it looks like our mutual friend Batman is already on it. We just need to focus on taking care of Black Mask once and for all now."

Floyd Lawton sits at a bar with a few shots of whisky in front of him and a basket of chicken. He wears a t-shirt that reads US Army and a baseball cap that reads veteran on it. His jeans have holes in the knees and he has a flannel shirt tied around his waist. He takes a shot of whiskey as two bikers from the Street Demonz gang approach him.

"Doesn't this guy look familiar?" one of them says.

"Yeah, he looks like the guy that whacked the boss!"

"Can I please just eat in peace? I don't want any trouble." Floyd says.

"Here that Donny? He doesn't want any trouble!"

They grab Floyd and drag him outside throwing him into a mud puddle and kick him in the ribs.

"Do you know how much we accomplished with our old boss? This new guy, he doesn't know what he's doing! But we do, and now your going to die!"

One of the bikers pulls a knife out of his boot. With a gun mounted on his wrist, Floyd fires a single shot which goes through the first biker's knee, ricochets off of a dumpster and hits the second biker in the calf. One of them tries to get back up but Floyd throws a knife in his hand.

"Now your sitting there bleeding and crying like a bitch. Don't say I didn't warn you."

Floyd walks back into the bar and hands the bartender $100.

"This is for putting up with shit like that." he says walking out of the bar. He lights a cigarette as he walks down the street in the rain. He pauses because something didn't seem right. He noticed that one of the lamp posts was dimmer than usual as if something large was perched on top of it. He quickly turns around to see Batman gliding towards him. He fires a shot from his wrist mounted guns, hitting Batman in the chest. And sending him to the ground. He approaches Batman, who he believes is dead with a knife drawn. Batman quickly stands back up to disarm Floyd of the knife. Floyd rolls backwards and throws the knife at Batman, who knocks it away. Batman lunges forwards, punching Floyd in the face and kicking him to the ground. Floyd recovers with a backwards somersault and fires a shot off at Batman, hitting him in the shoulder. Batman staggers backwards allowing Floyd to tackle him. He aims the wrist gun at Batman point blank. Batman retaliates by dislocating his shoulder. Floyd falls backwards and resets his shoulder.

"You don't want me to hurt you even more. Now tell me who hired you Deadshot!" says Batman, his voice heavily modulated.

"Look, I have a client confidentiality thing. You can have it over your dead body."

Floyd aims the wrist gun at Batman who throws a batarang in the loading chamber, damaging it. Batman runs towards him and gives him a left hook, then a right hook and then grabs his arm and twists it, breaking it in the process.

"I may have dislocated your other arm, but believe me, I can do more. That and you have two legs and twenty fingers." says Batman.

"You ever heard of child support Batman? That's why I do what I do!"

"Maybe you wouldn't have to pay child support if you just gave up this life. Think about your daughter Lawton. Now tell me, who hired you?"

"You're right. This guy has drugs all over the streets. There needs to be a stop put to this guy, my daughter lives out here."

"Just tell me who Lawton."

"Roman Sionis, the Black Mask. You need to put him back behind bars."

"Thanks."

Batman delivers a roundhouse kick to Floyd, mocking him out.

"Alfred, send an anonymous tip to the GCPD informing them that Floyd Lawton has been apprehended." Batman says tying Floyd's hands to a lamppost.

Batman enters Commissioner Gordon's office at the GCPD precinct to see him packing up boxes.

"Jim, what's going on?"

"I've been a cop for quite some time in this city. Been Commissioner for damn near 15 years. I think it's time to pass the torch to someone else. Have you ever considered doing that?"

"Not very often."

"There's young people out there trying to do good things Batman. Maybe it's time we give them a try."

"I won't sleep until Black Mask gets a life sentence."

"Then you won't get some sleep for a while. Good luck though."

Gordon leaves his office and turns the lights off. Just then he hears on a police scanner in the office that the Joker was spotted. It was time to go back to work.

Chapter 10: A matter of family

Bruce went to the sight that the Joker was spotted at. As he entered the building he saw three people tied onto chairs at a dining room table. A middle aged man and woman and Anarky.

"You know, you weren't invited to this family reunion Bats. This is between me and my son!"

"What son?"

"Anarky! The things he's done in recent years makes me a proud father! Torching buildings, bomb threats, all he needs to do is step it up a bit more and he will definitely be my son!"

Joker hits Batman in the back of the head with a gas canister, knocking him out.

"Now, what to do first? Oh yeah! Take one parent off my hands!"

"No!" Lonnie screams. But it was too late. Joker had shot and killed his adoptive father.

"Oh just give it up! We can accomplish such great things together! As a family!"

Lonnie attempts to untie himself while keeping Joker busy.

"What would be our first move?"

"Well, I quite honestly want to talk care of Batman here. But after that, it's whatever you want to do next!"

"How about blow up Arkham?"

"Yes! I always wanted to do that, but never thought it through enough."

"Well, I got some bad new for you." Lonnie says as he finishes cutting the ropes with a key.

"I'm not interested."

He gets on top of the table and jumps off, drop kicking Joker in the chest. Joker gets back up, this time with a switchblade. Lonnie pulls out his stun baton. Joker charges, but Lonnie grabs his arm and prods him in the armpit with the baton and then bludgeoning him across the face.

"Now that's no way to treat your father!"

Harley Quinn swings into the room and hits Lonnie in the back with a baseball bat.

"Now, let's see what I can pull out of you."

Joker charges up his electric hand buzzers and presses them up against Lonnie's head, electrocuting him. Batman gets up and throws a batarang, sticking it through Joker's hand causing him to recoil in the process. Harley freezes in fear, and runs out the back door.

"Anarky, take care of Harley. I'll deal with Joker."

Lonnie runs out the back door.

"How many times are we going to do this bats?"

"We'll keep doing this until you stay behind bars."

Batman charges at Joker and punches him in the gut and sending him to his knees. Joker pulls put the batarang and uses it to slash at Batman. Batman sidesteps the attack and kicks Joker in the back and making him faceplant. Joker reaches into his trench coat and pulls out a gun and attempts to use it on Batman. Batman lunges forward and breaks Joker's arm. He uses the blades on his gauntlet and causes a small laceration right above Joker's eyes.

"I think you missed." Joker laughs.

Blood trickles into his eyes, blinding him.

"I wouldn't worry. You won't have to get stitches when you get back to Arkham. It's a small cut, just enough for it to bleed."

Joker pulls out a small concealed knife and swings it, wildly missing do to his impaired vision. Batman grabs him by the collar and punches him in the jaw. He kicks him into the door, breaking it down with his body as it crashes to the earth like a sandbag. Joker gets back up and is met with Batman's boot like the tire of a heavy pickup truck.

"Stay down Joker, it'll be less painful that way."

"You think I give a damn about pain? Besides, this is fun. It's like Marco Polo! See? Marco!" Joker says laughing and wiping the blood from his eyes.

"Polo." Batman responds with a palm to Joker's chest. As soon as Joker hits the ground, Batman gets on top of him and pummels him with his fist making him all bloody. Joker laughs through the whole process. Batman stands up and kicks Joker in the side of the face, knocking him out. It's just then that Lonnie comes back with Harley. Batman stares him down.

"You did the right thing tonight. I have my eye on you. As long as you don't do anything that could hurt someone, I won't come after you. Don't make me regret it. Batman disappears as the GCPD arrive. Lonnie's mother runs outside and hugs him while in tears. Their horrors were over, but at the cost of Lonnie's step father.

Chapter 11: Azrael

Autumn sat on the couch watching playing "The Witcher III" on the PS4. Rachel walks through the door.

"Hey Rachel, how was your day?" says Autumn.

"It was okay. I think I'm breaking in okay."

She goes to put away her jacket and a box falls over on a shelf above her. A blank CD falls out with writing on it that says "Organ Grinder".

"What's 'Organ Grinder'?" asks Rachel.

"You wanna find out?" replies Autumn.

They put it into a CD player and they hear a male voice singing "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson.

"The lead singer doesn't sound like Marilyn Manson." says Rachel.

Taylor walks in the door headbanging.

"That's because it's not. It's this handsome devil." Taylor says pointing to himself.

"You can sing?" says Autumn in shock.

"That's not singing. That's just me being angry. But yeah, in high school I was in a band called Organ Grinder."

The song ends and a more punky song comes on, "Mono" by Courtney Love sung by a female singer.

"Who's the girl?" asks Rachel.

"Harper Row, my ex girlfriend. She was on bass I was on guitar, and my buddy Jack Smith was on drums."

Gotham City, 4 years ago.

Organ Grinder had just got done performing at the Gotham High talent show.

"Taylor, is everything okay?" asks Harper.

"Yeah why?" replies Taylor

"Well, I talked to Dick about how you've been different since your mother died. He says you've thought about killing Rupert Thorne."

"Of course I thought about it, and I'm done thinking about it. I'm going to kill Rupert Thorne tonight!"

"But Taylor, Bruce says he'll go after you if you do it."

"Let him. He knows I'm stronger than him and I already know what his contingency plan is."

"Look, if you do this I don't know how I can stay with you."

"Then leave! If you can't live with me avenging my mother, I don't want any part of it. And I'm done with Organ Grinder too. I've been so busy with it that I haven't been able to do what matters in the city.

Flashback ends.

Taylor hears a knock at the door. When he reaches the door, he smells the familiar scent of cigarette smoke. He opens the door to see his old friend, John Constantine smoking a cigarette.

"John, what are you still doing in Gotham? I thought you would've left for London." Says Taylor.

John shakes his head "No mate, we got bigger fish to fry. I've been keeping tabs on Adrian Dumont. Did you hear about the breakout at Arkham?"

"No, the last news I heard was that Joker is back in Arkham."

"Jacob Lowry was broken out of Arkham. By guess who?"

"Adrian Dumont."

"Exactly, we need to act fast. Adrian Dumont wasn't alone, he had Solomon Grundy with him."

"What do we do John? It's not like we know where Adrian Dumont is hiding."

"We need to find Azrael."

"Michael? The dude's crazy!"

"Then we have a better chance at taking out Adrian Dumont because he will stop at nothing."

"Alright, Autumn you need to stay here with Rachel. There's only about an hour of sunlight left." Taylor suits up as Nightmare and heads out with John.

Taylor and John reach "The Church of St. Dumas" and enters. They find a monk standing in front of a statue of Dumas.

"Something unholy enters." He says.

"I have my fair share of sins. Can you help us find someone?" Says Taylor.

"Perhaps, who is it you seek?"

"I'm looking for a man named Michael Lane."

"I'm not sure I know that name."

"Cut the bloody bullshit mate. This is a life or death situation."

They hear a screeching noise and look around. A vampire jumps from the ceiling and slashes the monk's throat. She stands there staring at John and Taylor. She lunges at them but is grabbed by the throat by a man wearing red and white knight's templar armor with a red mask and hood with a red cape, Azrael. He draws a flaming sword out of its scabbard and decapitates the vampire.

"Foul beast, you shall not dwell here. This is the house of God. Not for devilish, satanic creatures like you." he says, his voice slightly muffled by his mask.

"And you, you shouldn't be here either!" he says swinging his sword at Taylor who dodges it and punches Azrael in the face. Azrael quickly recovers and throws Taylor into a pew, destroying it. Azrael runs at Taylor and thrusts his sword towards him, expecting to stab him. Taylor transforms into a swarm of bats. And disappears. He reappears and grabs Azrael.

"Listen Michael! If we don't get your help, people will die! My former mentor Adrian Dumont is going to release Trigon!"

Azrael looks at Taylor with a fire burning in his eyes.

"Demons, I must destroy them. It is God's will!"

"Yes, now if you don't help us the world will fall into flames." says John.

"Very well, we must kill this heathen Adrian Dumont!"

They make their way back to the apartment. Taylor opens the door to find it swarming with vampires. In the middle he sees Adrian Dumont with Jacob Lowry and Solomon Grundy. Autumn is on the floor, nobody knows if she's knocked out or dead. Adrian Dumont has Rachel hostage with his hand over her mouth.

"Ah, hello Taylor! I'm afraid you're too late. I'm going to use Raven to summon Trigon and there is nothing you can do to stop me." says Adrian

"We should've killed you when you had the chance!" says John.

"You'll just bore me. Kill them!"

The vampires all dash towards Azrael, Taylor and John as they prepare for a counter attack.

Chapter 12: Bloodlines

Police escort Roman Sionis to a transport vehicle, A black SUV. Roman gets in the back seat.

"I hope you assholes brought it." he says.

"Yes sir. How could we forget?" the driver says.

He hands Roman a briefcase. Roman opens it up and pulls out his shiny black skull mask.

"Ah yes! There you are! I missed you!" he says as he puts it on.

"Where to?"

"The safehouse, the new one. The cleaning crew that was hired to clean up probably aren't done cleaning up Nightmare's mess. That and nobody knows where it is."

Jason suited up as Red Hood and began patrolling the streets on a motorcycle looking for Black Mask's SUV. He was at a stoplight and looked up to see a black SUV, sure enough being escorted by 3 smaller cars. Jason looks behind him to see three men on motorcycles, all wearing kevlar and private security uniforms. The light turns green and Jason follows the SUV to the end of the block. Just then, the security guards on the motorcycles open fire on Jason. He returns fire, hitting one of them and causing them to crash through a bus stop. The cars block the road and security guards exit, aiming their guns at Jason. He stops his bike and gets off as the two motorcycle guards approach him from behind with guns drawn. Jason throws down a smoke grenade and fires at the guards by the cars. They return fire but kill their allies in the process. Jason pulls out his M9 pistols and returns fire and kills 4 guards. Two guards rush over to the car he's behind and he gets behind the side of the vehicle. The guards fire at the back of the vehicle. Jason pops up and kills them both with a shot in the head. The smoke begins to clear and Jason picks up an assault rifle from a downed guard. He gets up and fires on the guards standing by their cars killing 4 of them. The remaining four guards open fire and move into cover. One wasn't hidden very well so he shot and killed her. One rushed him with a shotgun. Once he got close enough, Jason grabbed him and shot him in the back of the head. One did eventually land a shot into the back of Jason's helmet. Jason turned around and shot him between the eyes. He thought that he had taken out every member of Black Mask's security, but he was jumbled from behind by a knife wielding security guard. The guard stabbed him in the shoulder. Jason elbows him in the ribs causing two to break. Jason pulls the knife out and stabs the guard in the forearm. He kicks out the guard's legs from under him before shooting him point blank with his M9. He approaches the SUV and Black mask exits, shooting Jason in the chest. Jason recovers quickly and shoots Black mask in the hand, disarming him. Jason pulls out a kabar combat knife and stabs Black Mask in the gut. He then pulls it out and stabs him in the neck, then pulls it out and kicks him the the ground and finishing him with a shot to the head with the M9, splattering blood and his brains all over the pavement. He takes off the mask and his heart sinks. He thought be had just saved the city but instead has just killed a decoy meant to throw him off trail. Riddler comes on over the comlink.

"Jason, I've located the other SUV. I'm sending you the address it stopped at now."

Meanwhile, the real Roman Sionis enters a room in his safehouse. A man sitting in the room stands up from his chair. The man has long white hair slicked back and a white beard with an eyepatch over his right eye. He is wearing black body armor with orange elements, black cargo pants and black and orange combat boots with a tactical sword on his back.

"Slade Wilson! Where is our other friend?"

"Ah, unfortunate news Mr. Sionis. Floyd Lawton was apprehended by our old friend. And that is why I'm here. I just saw on the news that the decoy was attacked and killed."

"Killed? Batman has never killed anybody! Ever!"

"It wasn't Batman, we're dealing with the Red Hood."

The lights suddenly turn off.

"Go check the breaker. Ready your weapons everybody! Red Hood is here!"

Slade exits the room after grabbing his helmet with an M9 drawn and waits outside the door, putting on his signature two tone helmet. Half Black, half orange without a eye hole on the black side. Sionis turns around in time to see a shadow in the shape of a bat in the window getting closer. The window shatters as Batman breaks through the window and grabs Sionis.

"You're finished!" says Batman.

"That's where you're wrong." says Slade shooting Batman in the chest with the handgun.

"Deathstroke, wasn't expecting to see you here." says Batman.

Slade holsters the handgun and runs towards Batman. Batman attempts to counter it but is instead thrown through the desk. Sionis takes off running to his own room and pulls out an M1911 from his nightstand once he gets there. Guards run up to guard the room with all kinds of weapons drawn. A smoke grenade is thrown through a window and the room begins to fill with smoke and obscures the guard's vision. Jason creeps up behind a guard and stabs him in the back before stabbing him in the chest. He draws out his M9s and shoots a guard on the balcony. Several of the guards blindly open fire, killing one another. Jason shoots and kills two guards. As the smoke begins to clear, the guards catch sight of Jason and begin firing at him. Jason get behind cover and holsters his M9s and pulls out a SPAS-12 shotgun from his back. He gets out from behind cover and kills a guard close to him by shooting him in the chest with the shotgun. A guard grabs him from behind and another guard approaches with a pistol and shoots Jason in the chest. The bullet gets stuck in Jason's body armor. Jason elbows the guard holding him down in the temple, pulls out his M9s and kills them both. He holsters his M9s and picks up his shotgun and kicks open the door to Sionis's room. Sionis shoots Jason in the chest and he picks up a fire poker and runs at Jason. He swings it at Jason, who catches it and stabs Sionis in the gut. He walks with Sionis over to a window.

"Don't you know who I am boy? I am Roman fucking Sionis! I am the Black Mask! I have had this city in my hands since Carmine Falcone died and you think you can just take it from me?!"

"Who's going to stop me?"

"Slade should be done with Batman by now, you're dead son!"

Jason looks out the window behind Sionis and sees Batman and Deathstroke duking it out by the swimming pool. He turns Sionis around and forces him to look out the window.

"Look, they're still fighting. There's nothing Deathstroke can do to save you."

"Alright alright! I'll get out of the city! Where do you want me to go!" says Sionis frantically.

"I want you to go one place and one place only. I want you to go to hell."

Jason steps back and shoots Sionis in the chest with the shotgun with a force so great it sends him crashing through the window. Jason watches as Sionis plummets from the 4th floor of the safehouse towards the swimming pool. As Sionis hits the water, it turns the water red all around his bullet filled body. Jason sees Sionis's hand reach out from the water momentarily, but eventually he sunk to the bottom of the pool. The grip on Gotham's throat had been loosened. **Black Mask was dead**.

Slade had just watched his employer plummet to his death. He couldn't stop as he had no reason to mourn for his employer because their relationship was solely professional, Slade had never considered him a friend. Batman was on the ground coughing up blood. He gets back up and throws an explosive batarang at Slade. Slade catches the batarang and it explodes, temporarily disorienting him. He runs at Slade only to be grabbed and dunked head first into the pool. As Slade begins to drown Batman, Jason shoots Slade. The bullet ricochets off of his armor. Slade stops drowning Batman and throws him aside.

"Come to save your father boy?"

"He's no father of mine."

"Then why do you even care to save him?"

"It's more like I'm going after you for working for Sionis."

Slade pulls out his sword and begins swinging it at Jason, connecting with his arm once. Jason pulls out a combat knife and rushes at Slade, who stabs him through the arm with his sword. He knocks Jason to his knees and goes in for the killing blow when Batman grabs Slade and straps a small explosive device to his back. It explodes causing Slade to fly into a glass table and get knocked unconscious. Jason looks at Batman, who is bleeding profusely both from the face from vicious fist strikes from Slade and from the abdomen from gunshot and sword wounds.

"Bruce, I think you need to go home."

"Maybe. It's done and Black Mask can't hurt anybody anymore. You were willing to do something I would never do and now he can't come back and hurt anybody."

"Are you saying I did the right thing?"

"No. I'm just saying that he deserved to die,somebody was going to eventually and I knew it wouldn't be me. I was just trying to keep him alive as long as possible so he could watch as people turned against him."

Within the hour the GCPD would come by and clear out the bodies and arrest Slade Wilson

Chapter 13: Raven

Azrael was the first one to retaliate, killing multiple vampires within seconds.

"Vile beasts of Satan! Be gone to hell!" he yells as he decapitates a vampire and then stabs another. Adrian Dumont and Jacob Lowry exit through the window with Rachel. Solomon Grundy runs forwards before tackling Taylor out of a window. They both land in a basketball court. Grundy grabs the basketball hoop and rips it out of the ground. He swings it at Taylor, who catches it and pushes it back. He explodes into a swarm of bats and hurdles towards Grundy, punching him in the face. Grundy recovers unexpectedly fast and grabs Taylor, Hurling him through the fast. Grundy pulls a chain out from is duster and swings it around, hitting Taylor in the head and knocking him to the ground. He wraps the chain around Taylor's neck and hoists him up with one arm strangling him.

"Solomon Grundy, born on Monday! Christened on Tuesday! Married on Wednesday!" Says Grundy.

He punches Taylor until his face is bloody and then throws him into the trailer of a moving van. Grundy charges as Taylor pulls a shotgun out of his trench coat and shoots Grundy in the face, exposing bits of his skull and brain. Grundy staggers back and Taylor punches Grundy in the gut and unleashes a powerful uppercut, which makes Grundy fall backwards. Taylor tries to jump on top of Grundy but is swatted away like a fly. Taylor draws two revolvers and fired a flurry of shots and Grundy, which staggered him. Taylor pulls a machete and runs towards Grundy, stabbing him five times before cutting his throat with the machete. Grundy falls forwards and Taylor hacks into his skull with the machete. Grundy still kept upright, so Taylor sent his fist through Grundy's chest. Grundy let out a deep scream and collapsed forwards, once again going to the grave.

Constantine runs over to Taylor with Azrael and Autumn, who was stumbling.

"Where's Adrian and Jacob?!" says Taylor.

"We don't know. We're guessing that he went into the woods. We need to hurry before they can finish the ritual." Says John.

They look up and see a cloud of smoke coming from the woods and made their way to the area. They see Jacob Lowry reading out of a book, reciting satanic messages. Rachel is laying on top of a glowing pentagram Autumn runs out from the trees and throws a knife into his shoulder. He stops reciting and pulls out a dagger and puts it against Rachel's throat.

"Don't even think about it, just keep going!" says Adrian.

Vampires begin emerging from the woods. And Adrian runs towards Taylor and draws the sword out of his cane. Taylor pulls out his machete. They run towards each other and clash.

"You could've been one of the most powerful beings on the planet, boy!" Adrian says.

"I'm no boy, I will stop you!" responds Taylor.

Adrian kicks him away and stabs him three times before cutting his face. Adrian licks the blood off of the blade.

Azrael and John continue fighting off the vampires, holding their own with Autumn, who was armed with nothing but a kukri.

"Autumn, we can handle ourselves against these bastards. You need to stop Lowry!"

Autumn leaps over a vampire while decapitating it with her kukri. She throw a dart into Jacob's arm. He drops the book and pulls out a dagger. He jumps in the air and comes down, the dagger connecting with the kukri. Jacob thrusts his dagger forwards. Autumn gets out of the way and spins towards Jacob with the kukri. Jacob ducks and stands back up, stabbing Autumn with the dagger. Autumn falls to her knees and Jacob pulls out the dagger and walks over to complete the ritual. As he begins to resume chanting, Autumn gets back up and jumps across the pentagram and stabs Jacob in the chest with her kukri. Jacob falls to his knees where Autumn slits his throat with a hidden blade from her gauntlet. She pulls out the kukri and stabs Jacob in the side of the neck with it then pulls it out to deliver a kick that knocks him to the ground. The earth became soaked in his blood as he laid there. Jacob Lowry was dead.

Adrian looked up as he had his hands around Taylor's throat. He shook his head as he released Taylor.

"This… this is only a minor setback! I'm taking the girl and I'll find someone else to complete the ritual!" he says.

He begins to back away, but is blasted by dark energy fired from Rachel's hand. She walks towards Adrian, who is slowly getting up.

"No. You aren't taking me anywhere! You will never use me again!" she says as her eyes turn red.

"I am the daughter of Trigon, I am Raven!"

Dark energy forms around her fist and she strikes Adrian in the chest. Adrian pulls the sword out of his cane, but is met with Autumn's kukri as she slashes across his face and stabs him in the chest. John splashes holy water on Adrian's face, melting off a good portion of it and exposing parts of his skull. Azrael jumps out of nowhere and attacks Adrian with his sword of sin, slashing across his face and causing it to bleed as the wound doesn't heal. Taylor kicks Adrian to the ground from behind. Adrian slowly gets back up and John throws Taylor a wooden stake. Taylor catches it and plunges it into Adrian's heart. Adrian falls to his knees.

"You… you were supposed to be my successor. You were supposed to cause terror and rule Gotham from the shadows."

"I'm not your puppet dumont. I never have been and I never will be."

Taylor picks up Adrian's cane sword and cuts his throat. Blood sprays all over his face as Adrian chokes before falling over face first into the ground. **Adrian Dumont was dead.** Everybody began to leave but Taylor insisted on staying. The sun rose and Adrian's corpse turned to ash, leaving nothing but a pile of bones. Taylor takes the bones and creates a fire. He throws the bones into the fire and watches them Burn for a while before leaving. He made a vow to himself that nobody would ever try to hurt Rachel again.

Epilogue part 1: Titans

Taylor had the day off so he called over his friend Dick Grayson. He was tired, but didn't want to sleep, as he was afraid that he would see Adrian Dumont in his nightmares.

"She's a bright kid, knows tons about demonology naturally. I just wish that I could give her to someone that will just pass her on to another foster family." Says Taylor.

"I may have a solution to that. You see, I acquired some property with Bruce's help. I'm thinking of doing what he once did with me."

"Great, so a league of Robins?"

"No. Look, a lot of these metahuman kids, they're afraid. They feel like they don't fit in anywhere and the media has made it look like they're a threat. I want to create a place for them where they won't have to be afraid and also learn to use their powers to make a difference."

"So you want to bring in Rachel?"

"Absolutely! I think she'll fit in well with a few other candidates I've found!"

"Woah, woah, woah! Other candidates?"

"Yeah, with some help from Victor Stone, I've found some candidates that I think will fit in well."

"Victor Stone, isn't he the cyborg guy?"

"Yeah, come take a look at this one. His abilities are something you have to see to believe!"

Taylor sits next to Dick.

"We found him through an associate of Dr. Silas Stone named Dr. Niles Caulder. The kid is 15 year old Garfield Logan, but Caulder called him 'Beast Boy'. Check out this video and you'll see why."

Dick shows Taylor a video of a kid with green skin and green hair wearing skinny jeans and a red and white jacket walk past a vending machine. He pauses and looks at the vending machine. He looks around and he begins to change shape, turning into a green racoon and entering the vending machine and coming back out with a bag of chips before transforming back into a human.

"Whoa! Can he transform into anything else?"

"Eyewitnesses have seen him transform into a tiger, a gorilla and, get this, a rhinoceros!"

"I'm impressed, I see you have a few other file. You okay showing me those."

"Of course! This next one is from a girl that was spotted in Miami of unknown origin. She's been seen in other places as well, but most prominently after a meteor crashed in South Carolina that was the subject of a military coverup. Facial recognition wasn't able to identify her until about a week after the crash. We don't know if this is her real name, but the file comes up as Kori Anders. She exhibits feats of superhuman strength, flight, and she can manifest bolts of energy."

"You have a codename for her too?"

"No, you have one?"

"Well, look at the way her hair glows as if it's on fire in this picture of her flying. And consider the fact that she likely is an alien from among the stars. I've got it! Starfire!"

"Not bad! Okay, I've got one more. This one is out of El Paso Texas. The kid is a hispanic 16 year old named Jaime Reyes. He's been under surveillance by government agents and I have an asset that got me these files."

Dick opens up a video showing a device in a vacant lot. Jaime Reyes walks over and picks it up, observing it for a minute before walking off with it.

"Is that what I thought that was?" Says Taylor.

"Yeah! It's the scarab that bonded to Ted Kord!" Says Dick

"So this kid is essentially…"

"Blue Beetle."

"So this is your new team? These guys could be like titans!"

"What should we call ourselves?"

"I practically already said it. These kids… They're… They're Teen Titans!"

"Teen Titans it is then."

"How are you going to get the others?"

"I'm going to pick up Garfield from Caulder's place, and then I'm going to drop off him and Rachel at the compound where Barbara, Victor, and Tim are holding down the fort."

Rachel walks into the room.

"Who is your friend Taylor?"

"This is Dick Grayson. You're going to be staying with him."

"But why? Are you… afraid of me?"

"No, it's just the opposite. You kicked Adrian Dumont's ass! But we have no reason to protect you anymore. And quite frankly, Dick will take better care of you than Autumn and I can."

Rachel runs over and hugs Taylor. Autumn walks into the room and hugs Rachel.

"I'm gonna miss you kid. Maybe someday we'll see each other again." Says Autumn.

"I'll miss you guys. Thanks for everything."

"Hey, don't mention it. You know our secret now, so you know it's kinda what we do. Dick's an awesome guy and knows some awesome people. You'll be taken care of, I promise. Now go get packed, I'll help you take your stuff out to Dick's car."

Just 15 minutes later, Rachel got her stuff into Dick's car. And drove off.

"Where are we going?" ask Rachel.

"We're just going to New York. I'm picking someone up on the way though so that's why we aren't already there. Oh yeah, I'm Dick. But you can call me Richard or uh… Nightwing."

"Wait, You're Nightwing?"

"Hell yeah! Welcome aboard."

"So, am I going to be part of a team or something?"

"Yup, I'm calling it the Teen Titans. It was Taylor's idea. Don't worry, you'll fit in just fine."

Rachel looks out the window at the sunset and smiles, she had finally found a permanent home and she wasn't planning on going anywhere.

Epilogue part 2: Waller is gonna like you

Lonnie Machin's mother had just left. After saying goodbye to her he went to the garage, where he was making pipe bombs and IEDs for an attack he was planning on the GCPD. He had done a good deed for the community, helping with the Joker's arrest. But he thought to himself that his next act against the government that he vowed to destroy would have to be big, and this time people were going to get hurt. He heard cars outside and looked out the garage window. It was the FBI with the new GCPD police commissioner, Michael Akins. Lonnie grabbed a pipe and snuck into the living room. The police kicked open the door and Lonnie snuck past them, but he was spotted by Akins.  
"He's escaping, after him!" he said.

Lonnie ran as fast as he could, but before too long there were police cars everywhere with their sirens on. He was tackled and cuffed by an FBI agent. Akins approaches Lonnie.

"Lonnie Machin, AKA Anarky. You are under arrest for your involvement in the shooting and attempted bombing of Wayne Enterprises."

They shove Lonnie into the back of an FBI armored van. After 3 hours of driving Lonnie finally speaks.

"Blackgate is miles behind us and we just passed the exit for Arkham. So where are you taking me?"

"You're going down south to Belle Reve boy! The motto there is 'Until death do we part' you're never going to go anywhere ever again." says one of the guards.

"No, remember Amanda Waller's whole thing? She'll like the kid, maybe she'll put him in there to die!" the guards laugh as they continue driving. In 5 years time, Lonnie would be in for a hell of a ride.

In the shocking conclusion to the Dark Prince series, a vengeful former FBI agent plots to take down Nightmare and the Titans, a ruthless bow wielding vigilante from out of Gotham provides a new challenge for Batman, and Lonnie is put into a suicide mission with a secret government task force.


End file.
